KARACHI - Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah expressed grief and sorrow over the killing of two PIA employees and announced Rs2 million compensation for each of the deceased and Rs0.2 million for each injured. He also ordered shifting the two critically injured to a private hospital for better treatment. He was talking to a delegation of PIA Joint Action Committee led by Sohail Baloch that called on him at the CM House for dialogue so that air operation could be continued smoothly.
The members of the action committee narrated the incident of firing in which three of their workers died and a number of others sustained injuries.
Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said PIA was a national institution and being its workers and lifeline, the employees had to play their due role. “Your sit-in is disturbing the smooth flow of traffic and causing hardships for the travelers to reach Jinnah Terminal and it is not good for our country, its reputation and its economy,” he said. The sit-ins and protest were prone to create law and order situation in this city which has seen normalcy after long period of disturbances.
Qaim also assured the delegation of raising the issue with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but the delegation informed him that they were only ready to talk to prime minister through Federal Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Speaker Ayaz Sadiq as they are reasonable and have a key to settle the issue.
The chief minister tried to contact Ishaq Dar but could not because he was out of country. Later, he gave his message to Khwaja Saad Rafiq for the prime minister. Khwaja Saad assured the chief minister of giving his message to the PM and would also try his best to settle the issue. He also said the law enforcement agencies were working for the security of each and every citizen, therefore, it would not be fair to protest along with the dead bodies in front of their office. On insistence of the chief minister, the action committee assured the CM that they would not bring out the bodies for protest. They told Qaim that their three workers Hidayatullah, Farooq and Dr Imran have been taken into custody. The chief minister directed the home secretary to talk to the authorities concerned for their release. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Principal Secretary Alamuddin Bullo, Home Secretary M Waseem, Karachi Commissioner Asif Haider Shah and East DIG Mr Kamran.